Stolen Ink (Ink Born Book 1)

by Holly Evans

  Keirn and I stepped out of the elevator to the sound of breaking wood and shouts. I instinctively looked down the hallway to Isaiah’s door and was disappointed to find it wide open. Of course it was. We ran into his flat and found a small group of large men shouting at him while he did his best to fend them off. I had to give it to him, he was holding his own. We dropped the bags of food on the closest surface and marched into the situation.

  “What the fuck is going on?” I shouted over all of them.

  Only one of the thugs was bigger than me. My size and the shock of my presence was enough to make them stop and look at me. I put my shoulders back and weighed up the situation. The man in the pitch-black suit with the weak chin and sharp grey eyes stepped forward. He must have been the leader. He was unbalanced. He put far more weight on his right leg than his left. The main thug behind him, the one bigger than me, had his hands curled into fists.

  “We’re taking back what is owed to us,” the suit said.

  “And what do you think that is?” I demanded.

  “Isaiah left my employ without adequate warning, which means he owes me a considerable sum of money,” he said.

  He was arrogant. He slipped hands into the pockets of his slim fitting pants. A smile slithered along his lips.

  “And what are you doing here?” he asked.

  The thugs shifted their weight. The scrawny one with flame-red hair tried to edge closer to Isaiah. Isaiah punched him square in the nose. I was a little proud of him. The red-head snarled and went to lunge at Isaiah. The suit didn’t bother to look over his shoulder.

  “Not yet,” he said.

  The red-head muttered under his breath. Sparks jumped over his hair, and flames flickered over his fingertips. A fire elemental. That was exactly what we didn’t need. I stepped closer to the suit and gave him my most sickly sweet smile.

  “I’m here to spend some time with Isaiah. He owes you nothing. Now get out,” I said.

  “I don’t think so,” the suit said.

  “Get out. Or I’ll throw you out,” I said.

  “Try,” the suit said.

  Kyra chose that moment to launch herself at him. She landed on his face and proceeded to sink her claws in. She clawed and bit everything she could. The man screamed and tried to pull her off. She dug in deeper. Blood streamed down his face. I was pretty sure he’d already lost an eye. My cat was a vicious little thing when she wanted to be. Aris pushed to be allowed out and join in the fun. Given the thugs chose that moment to start attacking us, it seemed like a good choice.

  The fire elemental focused on Isaiah. I pushed hard into the room to try and get closer to Isaiah. Keirn had the smaller thug pinned, under control. He danced away from every attack the other thug tried to land while succeeding in landing his own brutal attacks. I heard the thug’s ribs and arm break under the elf’s onslaught. My own time was preoccupied with the largest thug. He was quicker on his feet than his size would have suggested. He was still slower and weaker than Jake, and that was all that mattered. I pushed him hard, driving him back into the room while keeping my defences up. He struck my arms and shoulders, but couldn’t reach anything more serious. I controlled his movements with sharp kicks and quick successions of punches to his head and abdomen.

  I finally saw an opening and put him down with a kick to the stomach followed swiftly with a right hook, and finished with a blow to the back of the neck. I turned to find Isaiah beating the living fuck out of the fire-elemental. He was relentless and fast. His punches were sloppy, and his kicks didn’t do more than bruise, but he was refused to stop or give in. The fire elemental didn’t have time to do anything other than put his hands up and defend himself as best as he could.

  Isaiah was beginning to tire when I managed to get to them. The fire-elemental saw his opening. He lashed out with a fire covered fist aimed at Isaiah’s jaw. I caught his arm and twisted him around before I head-butted him and drove my knee into his stomach. He groaned and doubled over. I shoved him away, causing him to hit the wall, hard. Keirn had his thug on his knees before him, with his hand around the thug’s throat and his teeth bared. The leader was barely breathing with Aris coiled around his chest and Kyra still clawing at him like a thing possessed.

  “Kyra, stop,” I said.

  The leader gasped for air, his face a wreck. It was a torn and bloodied pulp. Kyra had clawed out one of his eyes, half his nose, and there was a sizable hole in his cheek. She looked rather pleased with herself as she strutted away with her tail in the air.

  “Aris, give him enough to breathe,” I said.

  The snake pressed a grumpy feeling down the bond, but did as I commanded.

  “If you come anywhere near Isaiah again, we will finish what you started. Do you understand?” I said.

  The leader coughed and spluttered. Somewhere in there was a yes. I looked around the room. Keirn was squeezing his thug’s throat tighter and snarling at him. The thug choked out a yes, the largest one mumbled something, and the fire-elemental nodded enthusiastically.

  “You have three seconds to get out of this flat,” I said.

  Keirn and Aris reluctantly released their prey. Once the intruders had left, I approached Isaiah. He has a bruise blooming on his jaw, and he slumped down on the closest chair.

  “Thank you, Dacian,” he said quietly.

  I ran my fingers through his hair and lifted his chin to inspect the bruise.

  “You did pretty well for yourself, but we’ll give you some fighting lessons,” I said.

  He laughed.

  “I’d like that,” he said.

  I looked back to Keirn.

  “Are you ok, old friend?” I asked.

  He grinned at me, blood staining his teeth. “I haven’t had that much fun in a long time!”

  27

  Isaiah hadn’t sustained too many injuries, and Keirn and I shrugged off our bruises and such. We were both experienced fighters.

  “Why did you come over here, anyway?” Isaiah asked as he watched Kyra cleaning the blood off her face, none of it hers.

  “We brought you some food,” I said.

  Keirn took the cue to pick up what bags he could and take them into Isaiah’s kitchen. Kyra took that as her cue to dive into the remaining unguarded bags and see if there was anything she wanted in there.

  “Cat. Leave,” I growled.

  She growled and grumbled at me before she stalked off in a huff. Aris had settled himself along the back of the sofa.

  “You said you didn’t really have money for food, so we thought we’d bring some over,” I said.

  Isaiah grinned at me and ran his fingers over my cheek. “That’s incredibly kind of you.”

  I snorted.

  “It was more Keirn’s idea that mine,” I said.

  That didn’t stop him from kissing my cheek before I freed myself and set about trying to put his door back in place. I wasn’t a carpenter. I had no idea what to do with it.

  Isaiah came up behind me and said, “Let me.”

  I stepped back. “Be my guest.”

  He took a deep breath and began slowly moving his hands in methodical motions that I’d seen my father do. He wove something that tugged at the splintered wood along the edge of the door and glowed a soft blue. His motions became broader and quicker. There was an audible clicking noise when something slid into place. The door still looked fucked to my eye, but I could feel there was something solid there. It was right on the edge of my senses. Isaiah wobbled and caught himself on the wall.

  “When did you last eat?” Keirn asked him.

  “Dinner last night,” Isaiah said, suddenly looking quite pale.

  “You should have known better,” Keirn scolded.

  Isaiah scowled at him and proudly walked over to the sofa, where he collapsed into something of a heap. He was still conscious, so I took the food over to the kitchen and helped Keirn prepare a quick and hearty meal.

  When we went back out with the plate loaded full of food, Kyra was
grooming him. She had her paws on his cheeks and was licking his ear. Poor Isaiah looked confused and quite uncomfortable. Still, I had to laugh. Needs looking after Kyra pushed.

  Don’t look at me I pushed back.

  Keirn handed Isaiah the plate of food. He took it gratefully before he looked at us.

  “Are you not eating?”

  “We’ll get something at home,” I said.

  He frowned before he said, “You’re not leaving me here… alone, are you?”

  I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “And why wouldn’t we?” I asked.

  Keirn was desperately trying not to laugh.

  “Those men…” Isaiah tried, the cheeky smile flickering across his lips.

  I crossed my arms.

  “Those men aren’t going to be doing much of anything for a while. You’ll be fine, Isaiah. I’ll call you. Make sure you eat well,” I said.

  I leaned down and kissed him. I wasn’t ready to have someone with me all the time. I wasn’t convinced I was ready to have someone at all. In your tattoo I pushed to both Kyra and Aris.

  Unsurprisingly, Kyra grumbled and put it off as long as she could get away with. I kissed Isaiah’s temple and left before he could try and come up with any more excuses to spend the night at our place.

  The walk home was uneventful. Keirn was in much higher spirits since the fight. I told him he should join me at my sparring sessions. It would do him some good to burn off the stress. He gave me a non-committal noise, saying he’d think about it. His phone buzzed as we rounded the corner onto our block.

  “Ethan’s arrived,” he said.

  I missed half a beat.

  “Arrived?” I asked.

  “Yea, he’ll be crashing on our sofa for a bit. He has some work in the city,” he said, distracted by his phone.

  “Our little house is getting rather crowded,” I grumbled.

  “You’ll barely know he’s there,” Keirn said.

  That seemed incredibly unlikely, but I wasn’t going to argue the point. Vyx stepped out of the shadows by the front door and almost succeeded in making me jump. Keirn grinned at her. His fox began whining and scratching at the door when he was within sight.

  “You’re paying to get that door re-painted if it needs it,” I said.

  Keirn rolled his eyes and looked the vixen up and down. He frowned. It took me a second, but I saw why. She had a large gash down her cheek, and there was blood drying on her shirt.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “He was hard to follow, he had so many illusions. I thought I’d lost him, but his wolf attacked me. It wasn’t properly formed. It couldn’t come entirely out of the ink. I wouldn’t have made it back if it had,” she said.

  Keirn ushered her inside. His fox whined and circled around her legs.

  “We still have the alchemical healing kit, don’t we?” Keirn asked.

  “Yes. Why not use the life-magician one, though?” I asked.

  The alchemical one was twice the price. Yes, it was more effective, but she was clearly walking and not that badly injured. I was growing weary of the increasing number of waifs and strays around the place. My home was my sanctuary, and I was beginning to feel like I’d lost that. It was making me grumpy.

  “Can you get it for me? The alchemical one,” Keirn asked while he inspected Vyx in the light.

  I didn’t argue and pushed the misgivings aside. She had been injured trying to help our friend. The guilt over allowing her to go soon clouded the penny-pinching. Keirn’s fox kept trying to jump into Vyx’s lap and lick at her wounds. Keirn had to shoo him away and stop him from interfering. The fox grumbled and circled around them, looking for a weakness so he could get to Vyx. I had to admire his determination.

  “It’s not like you to fuss over women, Keirn,” a male voice said.

  I looked at the doorway to see an athletic man with dark blond hair and stubble coating his strong jaw. The leather jacket fit him well, as did the pale jeans. He flashed me a grin.

  “You must be Dacian,” he said as he walked into the room.

  “Ethan, perfect timing. Can you make sure she doesn’t have any dark magic in these wounds?” Keirn asked.

  I should have known it was the magic breaker. I cursed out the gods under my breath, and swore I heard them laughing at me.

  28

  The magic breaker had flirted with (or tried to flirt with) Vyx while checking her injuries over. She told him in no uncertain terms that not only was she not interested in him, she wasn’t interested in anyone. I had slipped away into the kitchen to prepare dinner for the four of us. Keirn had been far more animated and practically glowed with the breaker there. I couldn’t wait for him to be gone. It was bad enough having the little vixen around the place.

  Keirn’s fox came up to me and nuzzled its head against the palm of my hand while I leaned against the kitchen counter, waiting for the food to cook. I rubbed behind his ears and smiled. It had been a long day and I needed sleep. The sleep deprivation was making me snappy and unreasonable.

  Vyx gave the breaker a dark look when she walked past him into the kitchen. Her expression morphed into a bright smile when she saw me and Keirn’s fox.

  “I couldn’t get any information on the stalker, but your dusty man is back outside watching,” she said.

  “Dusty man?” the breaker asked with a smirk.

  I sighed.

  “I appear to have a stalker of my own,” I said.

  He raised his eyebrow.

  “You’re good looking, but that seems a little extreme,” he said with a rather charming smile.

  “Did you get anything at all, Vyx? Any identifying marks, or…? What was it you said about the tattoo wolf?” I pressed.

  She frowned and sat in the chair closest to me.

  “He kept changing his appearance every few minutes. One second he was a young elf, the next an elderly succubus, before he vanished entirely. I lost his scent. He just… vanished. I thought I caught something down an alley, so I went to investigate. That was when the wolf attacked me. It wasn’t… right. It was partially ethereal and its coat was like wet ink. I think it was the killer. I think that was a stolen tattoo,” she said.

  The crease remained between her brows and her lips were pursed, but her voice was calm and steady. She had stronger nerves than most.

  “Is this that tattoo thief you mentioned?” the breaker asked.

  “Apparently so,” I said.

  “Well it’s a good thing I’m here, then, isn’t it? I’ll break his magic, and it’ll all be over. You won’t need to hide in fear anymore,” he said with a grin.

  I kept my comments to myself. He likely meant well, but I wasn’t in the frame of mind to say anything polite. I turned my focus to the food. Vyx had said he was an illusionist, too. That meant we were dealing with a chaote. If he was an illusionist, there was a good chance we’d never track him down unless we caught him in the act. I didn’t know what to tell Faru, given his other half’s fears had been well founded.

  The breaker was saying something to Keirn behind me. I heard the laughter, but tuned out the words. I had to figure out the puzzle. If the wolf was inky and partially ethereal, that meant he hadn’t bonded with it properly. My stomach turned when I realised that wolf was likely stolen from Jake’s packmate. Then there was the ‘dusty man,’ as Kyra and Vyx referred to him. Was he related? Could it be that he was spotting suitable tattoos for the thief? I put the food out on the plates and tried to untangle the threads.

  The breaker made a point of sitting opposite me at the table. His eyes roved up and down me, seemingly drinking in every detail. I held back the snarky comment I wanted to make and simply watched him in return.

  “What happened to that girl you were seeing?” Keirn asked him.

  The breaker shrugged.

  “Didn’t work out. What about you? Anyone keeping your bed warm?” he asked.

  “I’m not interested in a relationship right now,” Keirn said.r />
  The hollowness of his words rang out. I resisted the urge to reach across the table and squeeze his hand. Our affections were our own and kept private.

  “He’s staying on the couch?” I asked Keirn.

  “Unless you’re offering something better,” the breaker said.

  His eyes danced, he leaned forward and chewed on his bottom lip. He was certainly my usual type, with dirty blond hair styled in that just-out-of-bed way, long enough to grab onto without being too long. His pale blue eyes were striking and easy to lose myself in, but I had Isaiah. Or, more accurately, I suspected, Isaiah had me. I gave the breaker a polite smile.

  “No. I’m sure Keirn will give you some blankets. Will you be here one night or two?” I asked.

  His tongue darted out over his lips, and he leaned back, putting his arms above his head, where he flexed, showing his lean, defined muscles under his shirt. His eyes never left mine, daring and challenging me. Isaiah’s pale-green eyes formed in my mind, his contented smile when he was safe in my arms soon filling my mind. I wasn’t ready for a relationship, but I wasn’t that asshole who was going to hurt Isaiah, either.

  “I’m working in Wildrun for the foreseeable future, so I’ll be here for a while,” he said, eyes never leaving mine.

  “Is there anything you won’t flirt with?” Vyx demanded.

  “What are the good party spots around here?” the breaker asked Keirn.

  Vyx muttered something under her breath and took away the dirty dishes.

  “You’d love the Nymph,” I said.

  Keirn smirked at me. Going to the Nymph wasn’t something that people in our circles considered to be a compliment. Keirn only went when he was summoned by the asshole who used him.

  “I’ll check it out,” the breaker said with a grin.

  “Do we have any clients booked in tomorrow?” I asked Keirn.

  “Just a small one, although I hope it isn’t another bird,” he grumbled.

  “Then I’m taking the day off. I don’t remember the last time I had a good night’s sleep. Shout for me if something larger comes in,” I said.